Rhona W

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

It's all good, nice to see the other side of the organization as well. Bracknell seems like a perfect location too - I don't know if I mentioned it, but I went to college there and I've worked in a couple of places there over the years too. Don't live near there now, but I used to! Bit of an amusing coincidence to think of it.
No idea what it's like there now, but apparently the town centre has got a bit of an upgrade.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

"You wish, you couldn't keep up," she replied with a snigger as he made his way up the ramp and then followed suit. She turned the Stormhound and watched as the ground receded, watching the beautiful landscape as it expanded beneath them, before disappearing as the ramp came up. She set the big suit into its' 'exit' position and hit the combination of commands to exit. The back opened up with a hiss and whine and the chunky Israeli pilot imagined a cloud of humid air exiting as she climbed out. The op had been a short one - much more so than some, and certainly a lot, lot less than some of the tests she'd done - but the pilot suit felt like the inside of a salami wrapper to her by now, and she could feel the bun she'd put her thick black hair into was now a slipping, frazzled mess.
Groaning, she sat on the fold-down canvas seats opposite Tobias, and plugged in a headset so she could hear anything said as she leaned back.

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Four Days Later
Bracknell, England
11:00

Gabby grumbled as she leaned over her desk, shuffling between paperwork. Her left hand tapped a pen against her thumb as she frowned intensely at the forms laid out in front of her, studying them for what seemed like the thousandth time. She sighed as she tentatively filled in some details, before leaning back with a sigh and massaging her temples. Flopping forward with a sigh and leaning on one hand, she flicked the bobblehead of a chibi Stormhound that sat on her desk.
"Ugh," she said out loud among the burble of the office. "I can't believe I drive a robotic armoured exoskeleton for a living, get half my intel from robot airplanes and still have to fill out so much actual paperwork".
She looked over as Tobias headed her way, sitting back up. "A brew sounds like it'd be a welcome break," she replied as she stood up a stretched, picking her jacket up from the back of her chair. "And I'm not sure about the hallucinations; I'm sure I've added up everything and counted five times, but there's still something that doesn't add up in my expended rounds". She shrugged and shook her head. "I'll look at it when we come back, I'm sure I can make it make sense". She followed along in Tobias' wake, heading for the lift up to the ground floor.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Gabby couldn't help but grin wryly in response to Tobias' laugh; it was a grim kind of humour at the realities of the carnage they'd wrought. Likely not one that would be understood by anyone outside of their field. As he dropped the joke about her being on the line, she chimed in with a fake prim voice. "Quite right, gentlemen. Mind your fucking language, if you please. And as the man says; clean up costs extra, pest extermination is just the basic package. Have fun, boys". She waved the suits' hand in their general direction as she walked alongside the somewhat smaller and more compacy Firehound to their LZ. The thudding clatter of the V-22's rotors caught her attention, and she watched as the aircraft swooped in and gently descended for a landing, touching down with a gentle bump. As the ramp came down, she smirked and gestured to Tobias in an exaggerated bow. "Quite right you are. After you, your ladyship"

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

As the remainder of the enemy ran for their lives - literally - Gabby couldn't help feeling the same kind of satisfaction as Tobias as she saw them rout in the face of what, to them, had to be like angry iron giants tearing through their operation. They'd dropped out of the skies, apropos of nothing, and arrived in a roaring storm of thunder, fire, smoke and death. They were like almost mythical figures, shrugging off firepower and near-effortless in dealing with any threat levelled against them.
It was dangerously intoxicating, she thought with a a sobering grimace. She looked down at the BTR's hull in its' drab and rusty metal under her suits' feet, cold realisation prickling all over her tan skin; she'd thrown herself into the moment and it had worked, but it had been an absurdly flamboyant approach, and could have ended up with her cut to pieces by autocannon fire.
She suppressed an involuntary shiver at the thought, and instead clomped to the edge of the APC's hull and jumped down with an earth-shaking thump, moving to stand close by to Tobias and look over the vista before them. It was impressive, albeit somewhat sad for the ugly scar the mine left on the tropical landscape. Although, luckily, being paid by their employers didn't come with the stipulation that she had to like what they did especially.
The urge to pop the suits' helmet was strong, but she resisted; the area wasn't secure enough just yet, and getting shot in the face by a die-hard sniper wasn't a good way to end the mission. Instead, she followed Tobias' example, checking over her weapons and systems as a kind of calming routine, as much as a necessity, centering her thoughts and emotions through the repetitive actions, before turning and falling into step with the cornishman back toward the other end of the compound.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Tob. All that activity and adrenaline, I'm definitely going to have a crash on the way back as I come down from it all. And listening to the tech debriefs and the play-by-play with 'death by powerpoint' accompaniment... like you say, I get the point, but it sure as hell doesn't help with the fatigue." She nodded at his comment about better AC, wiggling a little inside her suit as his words provoked a sudden reminder of, now, how sweaty, itchy and uncomfortable she was inside the bodyglove and padding of the suits' interior. The result was the Stormhound itself doing an odd little dance move before picking back up and walking normally. "Yeah, got a few ideas I'd like to put forward myself after this op. Couple of things that would help with quality of life and efficiency... of course," she said with a snort. "When did the big brains ever listen to us?"

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Gabby grinned at Tobias comments as she peeked out of her cover. The two russian-made APCs were grumbling forward, spaced well apart. They were impressive looking machines; angular and brutish with huge wheels and a pugnacious profile. The turret atop each one held a powerful automatic cannon that was more than capable of turning either of the battlesuits to scrap, making them probably the most credible threat they'd faced so far. Which meant it was a challenge to take them out - and just the way the Israeli operator liked it.
Briefly, she licked her lips and took a sip of water from the Stormhounds' internal water supply as she gave a moment of thought to her approach before nodding as she settled on a strategy.
"All right, Lionheart. I'm moving in now. Get ready for some more noise!"
The fire from the infantry was a distraction, a series of whacks and pings glancing off the suits' thick - comparatively - armour, and registering nothing more substantial than minor or cosmetic damage. She was already moving forward with her plan. A shower of gravel and clods of dirt sprayed into the air as the splayed 'toes' of the Stormhound dug in as she set off at a run. As soon as she broke cover, the suits' smoke launchers blasted out with a series of rapid firecracker-pops and blooming clouds of thick, grey-white smoke. A breath later she'd changed direction, running parallel to the BTR's, and away from their front ends. The guns on the tops of them opened up, but as she'd anticipated; they were firing where she'd been instead of where she was.
Using the pupil-tracking of her suits targeting systems, she unleashed a chugging volley of 40mm HEDP, aiming low along the side of the BTR closest to her. The rounds hammered home in a rush of heavy explosions and battering concussions, before she spun again, leaping sideways into a shoulder roll - towards the second of the BTRs as the first sagged on its' wheels on that side. The second BTR, moving parallel and a little behind the first at a good distance away opened up toward her with its' autocannon. Rounds slashed toward her, coming dangerously close, so much so that her suit registered shell splinter damage, and she felt the hammerblows of the concussive impacts even through the suits' armour. But it was a move unpredictable enough that she'd got close enough to hit the next part of her insane plan. A few simple commands set the light-and-sound of her speakers and spotlights into full-on 'disorientation' mode, a pattern of ultra-bright mismatched flashes and high-frequency sounds that were on the verge of nauseating for onlookers. Inside an armoured vehicle, the effect would be minimised, but enough to make any crewman look away from their sights for a few moments - a few enough moments that she could get inside the arc of the gun on the top, and right behind the wheeled APC.
Gabby skidded to a halt, taking a knee by the back door of the as-yet undamaged machine. She swiveled as she dropped, and the barrel of the Recoilless Rifle mounted on her suits' shoulder dropped into position. With a hollow boom, a rocket-assisted HEAT round went on its' way, aimed directly at the troop door on the rear of the immobilised BTR.
As soon as it was on its' way, she turned to the one in front of her, and grabbed handholds on the rear of the APC, using the suits' strength and agility, she awkwardly scrambled up the rear of the vehicle and onto the top of it. Reaching the turret, she crouched and applied the battlesuits' full strength as she grasped the barrel of the autocannon. Servomotors whining and metal groaning, the autocannon shifted out of alignment. The chainsaw on the underside of the suits' left arm whined to life, and metal-cutting teeth tore through the co-axial 7.62mm machine gun, before swift and brutal wrenches, punches and kicks smashed and twisted the optics, antennae and firing ports of the 8-wheeled APC. Last, but by no means least, Gabby turned the GMG on the rear engine deck of the BTR, letting off a short burst of grenades, hammering the engine from above. Thick black smoke spat and coughed from the exhausts and unhealthy grinding noises followed, before she stamped heavily on the roof of the machine with one foot.
"All right, ya bunch of dickheads! Stop this shitheap and come out, or else I get really creative, and really cruel in sealing you in and letting you stew in there!"

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

"Same old, same old," she replied as she added her own minigun fire to his, withering the team and their cover to not much more than splinters and bad decisions. She laughed at his bad pun, grinning into her helmet as she followed him up in the move from cover, laying down suppressive fire with the GMG on the corner of some kind of concrete structure that looked to hold sand or earth dug up, and the wheel-loader parked in front of it, as another group attempted to rake the pair of suits with gunfire to little noticable effect.
As Tobias tooled up for some close-and-personal work, the Israeli pilot gave a mock huff of indignation at his comment.
"Rude," she said shortly, backhanding the face of a fighter who charged up behind her, yelling with a grenade in his hand. The crunch as the metal of the suits' forearm met his face was both satisfying and sickening. "And I'll have you know, my arse is not 'fat'. It is generous, curvy, voluptuous, and, if you're really feeling brave, Pixar dumptruck phat".
The grenade fell out of the concussed man's hand as he slid to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Gabby caught it in the open palm of her suit, and tossed it toward a small toolshed where some half-hearted rounds pinged off of her suits' shoulders, the flimsy wooden building collapsing with a sighing explosion and a cloud of smoke as Tobias rejoined her.
She stumbled a few steps aside as the cornishman propelled her out of harms' way, and watched incredulously as the construction equipment rolled off to cause more havoc.
She clapped her metalshod hands together with glee at the prospect of the BTR's. "Oooh, fireworks". She said with a wolfish grin that couldn't be seen through the visor, but that her body language through the suits' frame picked up. "I'll get on it, and then move to cover you and mop up. You're right; this is working up an appetite"
The Israeli operator flashed him a V-sign and then trotted away, moving through and around cover towards the sounds of the rumbling diesel engines, navigating using a combination of her suits' own sensors and the UAV coverage from above, before taking position and readying herself.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

I think you're imagining the Stormhound to be much bigger than I am - it's definitely bigger than person size, but still more of a powered armour than a mini-mech. I'm imagining it at the same size as the machine I based its' appearance on, the MADOX-01 from the anime of the same name.





Large powered armour size, for sure; like a 40K space marine. Incredible Hulk sized, or some other similarly large individual. Large enough to go indoors too, in big buildings. Especially if you're not concerned about collateral damage too much.

A mini-mech to me would be more like something of this size:


Coincidentally, about the same size as a GEAR was/is meant to be.

Will get a post up shortly too.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

The GMG's fire withered the gun position into a smouldering wreck, and the Israeli operator followed up with a stream of minigun fire toward a squad of armed men as they raised their weapons to open fire on another squad moving to reinforce those at the gate. Barely a moment later, the Stormhound followed suit to Tobias' suit. The retro-rockets fired with a blast of yellow flame, and the parachute disconnected, rippling away on the wind. The rockets brief blast was enough to cushion the landing, before Gabby landed hard with a resounding thump, the rockets blasting away with explosive bolts. Inside the perimeter of the mines' fence, she quickly took stock. Gunfire chattered out from the portcabins; a zoom in with optics showed a small knot of people, one of them firing an RPK from the door frame, others darting in and out and firing a motley assortment of old-school SMG's or AR's.
"Got a few to my three, moving to suppress 'em while you cover my ass, wait one".
Launching into a darting run, she loaded FRAG-12 rounds into the auto-shotgun on the suits' left arm and played the weapons' muzzle across the front of the portacabin. Shards and splinters of particle board, plastic and plaster burst out from the front of the structure along with plumes of debris, before she slid into cover.
"Roger, Lionheart", she replied as he called out about the hostiles moving in. "Moving to your position".
She spurred the suit into movement again, sprinting across the outside space of the mine using the cover of a large dumptruck and a rock crushing machine. Another burst of minigun fire cut down a fireteam along with a couple of grenades for good measure that blew the pickup they were using as cover to pieces. She drew to a halt alongside Tobias and gave a wave with one of the suits' hands. "Hey, 'sup. Got bored on my own, came to see what you were up to".

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

"Roger, I've got the drone feed coming in good", Gabby replied as she studied the video as it streamed onto the inside of the suits' visor. Like Tobias, she pinned the feed to one corner of her view. As the V-22 banked into the approach to the drop zone, she looked to opening ramp, taking in the view. The Osprey shook as blossoms of dirty smoke exploded into the air around them, and Gabby adjusted the Stormhounds' stance as Tobias leaned against the wall of the cabin. The Israeli pilot held her arms out and wobbled for balance as the tilt-rotor shifted and wove through the air.
"Well, I don't have to go to the bathroom anymore," she grumbled, turning the suits' visor toward the rear hatch, watching the tracers stream upward as the ground loomed larger. "Such a rude welcome too".
The light flashed green and Tobias charged out the ramp, disappearing from view. She gave a few heartbeats' count and then charged after, the heavy feet of the exo suit ringing against the deck before they met air. This was no HALO drop, so there was no time for any fancy moves. Getting the landing right was key; exosuit or not, getting it wrong would still hurt. The suit might survive, but her skeleton; well, that was different. And that would just be embarassing.
The suits' LIDAR kicked in, giving a clear and accurate altitude reading to the rapidly approaching ground, and she spread the suit out to get the most control, before the parachute kicked in automatically, dragging her upright. Much like Tobias' chute, there was a little flair involved, and the rectangular chute had a big and bold star of david emblazoned on it, white on the blue background. One-shot rockets would fire to cushion her impact, heavier as it was compared to the Firehound.
Targeting came online as Tobias spoke and she grinned into the cushioning around her face as the Stormhounds' sensors and targeting systems correlated with the UAV's electronic overwatch.
"Bringing the noise, Lionheart," she replied as the GMG on the Suits' left shoulder opened up with its' staccato chattering, sending a stream of high-explosives onto the enemies' positions as she glided lower.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Yes! I came across it years ago in one of those tiddly little 'pocket' reference books I had acquired from somewhere. At the time I didn't know much about firearms etc, but now I'm a bit older I looked it up again, and it's a pretty neat little gun. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to use it.

And good thought; I actually completely overlooked it so far. I'll have a think and see what I can come up with - something in hebrew would be cool; I'll get to work with Google translate, lol.

Edit: I did a bit of looking, and Duner works - it's 'Thunder' in Yiddish. It sounds badass, but I have an amusing explanation why she's actually called that which can come out at some point too.